Wyden, Merkley, Crapo Call on Trump to Prioritize Opening Japanese Market to U.S. Potatoes

Wyden, Merkley, Crapo Call on Trump to Prioritize Opening Japanese Market to U.S. Potatoes

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Jeff Merkley, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, with Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, today asked Donald Trump to prioritize gaining market access for U.S. fresh potatoes during Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae's upcoming visit to the United States.

Ending Japan's restrictions on U.S. fresh potatoes would result in an estimated $150 million a year in new U.S. exports, benefitting farming communities in Oregon and nationwide.

"U.S. potato growers produce the best potatoes in the world. International trade and foreign export markets are critical to the U.S. potato industry," Wyden, Merkley, Crapo, and other lawmakers from the Senate and House wrote to Trump.

"With low commodity prices and increased input costs this year, the potato sector, and specialty crops more broadly, are facing a major economic crisis. Japan represents a massive market with significant export opportunities for American potato growers," continued the legislators. "Securing this long-delayed market access petition and unlocking the critical Japanese export market would make a meaningful difference for potato growers in our states and across the country."

Oregon ranks fourth among the states for production of potatoes, the official state vegetable. The Pacific Northwest accounts for more than 50% of all U.S. production.

Read the full letter here.